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The Julie Neill Designs chandelier giveaway was extremely popular! I had a funny feeling it would be. Almost 1,000 readers entered, making it one of the biggest Cote de Texas giveaways ever, along with the lantern giveaway from BROWN this past July. I only wish I had more chandeliers to give away. These giveaways serve two purposes – first, they are a way for me to give back and thank you for supporting the blog. And, second, for the donor, it’s a way to advertise their company. In addition, the owner learns something about their merchandise with these giveaways. I always require that in order to enter, you must first visit the company’s web site and look at their product. Then, in the entry comment, tell what you liked best and why. Your responses go a long way in helping the donors understand what particular product in their line is liked and why. Giveaways on blogs are secret pleasures. Even in a popular giveaway, the odds are great that you might win. When entering a contest, odds of 1 in 1,000 are much better than 1 in 50,000 odds you might find in a magazine contest. But on smaller blogs or less popular giveaways, your odds might be 1 in 35 or 1 in 100!!!

The Ingrid – the contemporary choice in the giveaway.

Today, I am happy to announce the winner in the Julie Neill Designs chandelier giveaway! The winner is also a blogger – THE CLUTTER DIVA. She is a real estate agent turned home stager who hails from San Antonio, Texas, home of the Alamo. Congratulations to The Clutter Diva! Hopefully, we will soon see pictures of her new chandelier hanging in her home. Some people have asked how I choose the winner. First, I go to the web site www.Random.orgHERE and enter the number of the total entrants. The web site then generates one number which is the winner. I go back and pick out the comment with the same number. This time, The Clutter Diva was the lucky one!!

The Mollie Chandelier by Julie Neill Designs

As the giveaway rules state, The Clutter Diva left her winning comment on my blog after first visiting the Julie Neill Designs web site. There, the Clutter Diva said one of her favorite designs is the Mollie Chandelier – pictured above. This Italian styled chandelier has become the trendiest look in hanging fixtures, after lanterns, so I am not surprised this was her pick.

As for the giveaway chandelier, I wonder which design she will chose – The Elizabeth or the Ingrid, the more contemporary fixture. I have a feeling The Clutter Diva will be choosing the Elizabeth.

I want to thank the beautiful and talented Julie Neill once again for her wonderful generosity in hosting this Cote de Texas giveaway! Thank you Julie, so very much!!!!

And, in other giveaway news:

The last giveaway before Julie Neill Designs was the Harrison Howard print. Harrison, an artist, has a wonderful web site HERE filled with all his creations. The giveaway was one print of the winner’s choosing. The winner of the Harrison Howard print was Kwana Jackson, the very popular blogger of Kwana Writes fame HERE. Below is the print that Kwana chose for her giveaway.

“Afternoon Watering” by Harrison Howard

Kwana told Harrison that she picked this particular print, Afternoon Watering, because it reminds her of her and her husband. As soon as the print has been framed and hung, Kwana promises us a picture of it, in situ! Congratulations Kwana.

inally, in the Paris Hotel Boutique HERE giveaway, Lynn Goldfinger Abrams most generously donated this beautiful antique convex mirror!!! Much to my surprise, the winner lives about 1 mile from me in Bellaire, Texas, which is right next door to my own hometown West University Place. Yes, we both technically live in Houston – just a few miles from downtown Houston in fact – but our addresses are in these two incorporated cities within the boundaries of Houston. Both of our cities, West University Place and Bellaire, have their own mayor, police and fire departments, but we share school districts with Houston, amongst other things. The winner of the Paris Hotel Boutique giveaway who goes by the name “Camplkidz” emailed me today to say her mirror has arrived and will be up shortly. In the meantime, she sent me a picture of it awaiting its final placement.

The giveaway mirror waiting to be placed at its Bellaire, Texas home.

I want to take this time to tell all of you who have entered these giveaways - thank you for your support. I started writing Cote de Texas in 2007 – and it has turned out to be so much more than I ever envisioned or hoped for. As must bloggers say, I only expected my friends and husband to read it, but truthfully, my husband rarely if ever reads it, and only a few of my friends do. Yet, somehow, over 70,000 people a month do read it, a figure that staggers and profoundly humbles me. The vast majority of readers are people I have never met – most are from Texas and the United States, but there are many from Australia and other parts of the world I will never have the privilege of visiting. Writing the blog has been a lot of fun and a lot of hard work too. It’s not easy to come up with something worthwhile to say every week, but I do try to be original and interesting. Sometimes it is, sometime it’s not. Your positive, and even those not so positive comments, are what keeps me motivated to continue. When I first started, I tried to answer each and every comment – which back then was a manageable feat. Today, the comments are numerous and I have spent many hours feeling guilty about not being able to personally respond to all of you. For that I can only offer my apologies and hope that you understand. I wish I could still answer each and every comment, but know that I do read and digest them all.

As for personal emails, I get an amazing number of emails a day – most are spam or cookies driven, but sometimes personal emails get lost in the shuffle. If you have emailed me and I haven’t responded within a week, please email me again. It’s probable I never saw the original message. It’s hard to believe it’s already November and the holidays are quickly approaching. I have a few more smaller giveaways planned for the end of the year. I wish I could have one each week!

The interior design of Greet Lefèvre, the woman behind the Belgian Pearls blog.

On another topic, there is a new Skirted Roundtable interview now available with Greet, the talented interior designer and cabinet maker from Belgian, who writes the only blog from that wonderful design conscious country: Belgian Pearls. To listen to this interview, please go HERE.

And finally, speaking of lost emails, will the person who sent me this picture below please email me again! I don’t know who sent these pictures!!!